Tougher times made closer friends by Medhavi Davda

Blessed I am, to have a huge number of precious friends who have been my support at different times. But, when it comes to travel, I’m now blunt enough to not let anyone travel with me, the “Solo Traveler” takes over.

Trekking is one passion of mine, which I can’t always do solo. The most dangerous treks are meant to be done in groups. I never had a group of my own as I didn’t know any trekkers when I had started. I was fortunate enough to meet some wonderful trekkers over an unfortunate failed trek in 2013. We were stuck in our tents at the height of 12500 ft for around 40 hours due to constant rains. That’s when I met Ninad, Suryaveer, Pamposh and Vivek. Those tough hours got us closer and made us friends for lifetime.

They planned Auden’s Col trek (the most dangerous pass in the Garhwal Himalayas) in 2015 and convinced me to join them. It has been the toughest trek of ours. Tougher times got us closer. After the success of this trek, Ninad immediately planned for Kalindi khal trek for the year 2016. They promised me to take me to this trek too.

A lot had happened in a year. I had got into irregular and unhealthy work routines and become unfit, I had quit my job and stopped my steady flowing paychecks, I was trying to move to himalayas to make a living. Against all odds, each one of them came together to help me join the trek to Kalindi Khal at 20000 ft, the highest height we have achieved till date. Some special memories that we captured in our eyes and heart will always be special to me, Suryaveer and Pamposh had pulled me out of steep snow slope I had slipped into. Ninad had fallen into a deep crevasse and efficiently rescued by our trek lead Raju. Vivek and Ninad had a fight due to frozen brains at high altitude. Those entertaining evening sessions of pulling each others legs after supporting each other through difficult times on the climbs everyday are the most cherished ones. This is a special bond between us which only we understand. I would love to trek with them every year.

On this friendship day, I want to thank Ninad, Pamposh, Suryaveer, Vivek and Raju for being there in the most difficult times. I trust them for my life.